So, players of excellence, tell me one strategy or tactic that you use to win. No a ship, pilot or upgrade, but a system, philosophy or approach.

Let's here what ya got.

Play a wookie so people can tell your opponent to "let the wookie win."

Perhaps a bit sarcastic but also not a terrible approach either.

As for a "Strategy or tactic" I'll say just be confident in your abilities so you don't get flustered by unexpect things and/or things that don't go your way like they should.

I like to kill a ship before it ever gets to fire.

Flexibility is most key for me. I try to have a few different plans going in to every match. That way I can react to whatever gets thrown my way. I try not to be too rigid, but don't just entirely wing it either.

The best list-building strategy I've encountered was said by Theorist on Team Covenant (although others have probably said similar things elsewhere). The following is paraphrased.

1.) Make a list of your ships from most dangerous to least dangerous.

2.) Make a list of your ships from most durable to least durable.

3.) Make sure those lists are the same.

You don't want to give the opponent any easy decisions, like throwing a powerful, flimsy ship in a list with a bunch of tough, low attack ships.

Maneuverability is key. It doesn't matter how fragile your ship is if your opponent never gets to shoot it.

Blocking! Forcing a ship to be where you want it to be. Once said ship is there focus fire, get it off the board. Blocking works against every single ship. Just keep in mind you don't have to bump to block.

• Try to avoid having a lynchpin ship - if killing one single ship destroys your cunning plan, it probably won't work. It's why I'm not a massive fan of Howlrunner.

1) Concentrate fire

2) Prevent your opponent from taking actions and get actions with your ships,

Play ships that you fly well.

Learn dials by playing with all ships.

If you ever think during a match "i hope he doesn't......" then remember it, use it or prevent it.

Enjoy yourself.

If your opponent is new to the game and needs help, give it. If you can't beat a noob fairly then you shouldn't resort to rules buggery.

Sometimes the dice will be against you. Accept it graciously.

Sometimes the dice will be with you. Acknowledge it humbly.

Enjoy yourself.

Identify the ship(s) that will cause you the most problems in the end game and eliminate it/them first.

base your kills in order, What ship is going to cause you the most damage. whether it be damage on your ship, or restriction of movement, know which ship is your target mark. what ship is going to prevent you from Kturning, but you are powerless to stop his kturn

Force your opponent to spread their firepower out over multiple ships. Keep them all alive longer and thus gives you more firepower.

I posted this in another tread the other day;

I think it's a mistake to base your entire squad on a single tactic. If you want to play with arc dodgers include a mini swarm to counter that YT or Y-wing! If you want to play a low PS 4x fighter squad as Rebels, you should take some of your firepower away and include some ion or stress inducers to introduce some control in your squad.

I like providing my opponent with difficult choices. Yesterday I had Chewbacca surrounded by Turr Phennir with an evade token at 3, two Academy Pilots with evade tokens at 1, and Night Beast with focus and evade at 2. By keeping every single ship within range of the Falcon, at varying ranges, and if at all possible outside the fire arcs of his X-Wings and Headhunter (even at the cost of my firing), my opponent has no single "right" choice to make.

Don't get cute. I've done this too many times. Its good to be unpredictable, but not to the point where you out fly yourself. If you have an optimal move but its the predictable one, take it. Don't do a maneuver that will take you out of position even if your opponent isn't expecting it.

Have a purpose behind your actions. I've seen people barrel roll or boost for no other reason then that they can. If you aren't BRing or boosting to get out of arc or move around a rock, etc. Then don't do it. When in doubt Focus!

Think a move or two ahead at least, especially with unmaneuverable ships. I've flown off the board before because I didn't do the right move 2 or 3 turns ago.

Always play your game. Do what you designed your list to do, no matter what your opponent is doing, that way you either get rolled or you force them to play to match you, and not the other way around

Learn game theory

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. If you're going to spend 30+ pts on one ship, you better have another major threat on your squad to force a decision in your opponent.

I build lists with 2 elements in mind:

-at least 2 major threats (or 1 + mini swarm)

-dedicated flanker.

You don't have to fly in formation to focus fire.

Reduce the amount of red dice available for your opponent to throw as soon as possible. Don't spread your fire elsewhere if it could mean killing off that last hit point.

Green dice are overrated. A bad roll of red means you miss. A bad roll of green means your dead.

Four hit points on two ships has more staying power than four points on one ship.

Identify your opponent's center of gravity and get there the "fastest with the mostest."

Don't extract yourself from combat in the face of the enemy. When you are in the furball, you stay in the furball until death.

These are probably poor maxims in practice (I'm not that great of a player), but they are how I am trying to play.

Wear slave leia outfit to the match... Your opponent will probably just quit.

My favorites are

Hammer and anvil, two or more threats flanking, force them to split fire, or ignore a threat. Either way you concentrate fire.

Blitzkrieg, hit hard, hit fast, throw the opponent on tilt. Get a strong alpha strike then leverage the advantage so the opponent is playing catch up the whole game, while you are only have to keep the lead. This means the opponent has a harder game to play than you do.

Cyberkaiju - I am going to borrow those two for an Episode of NOVA Squadron Radio, we are doing a series on tournament tactics right now.

I focus on breaking the other guys formation first, then use my ships to isolate the biggest threat taking it out quickly.

Low ps ships work very well for this as you get there first and potentially deny the other guy actions.

I've been thinking Hammer and Anvil style deployments lately, and it brings up an interesting set of questions that I don't really have answers to.

1.) What if both players do it (either strong-side lined up against strong-side, or strong-side lined up against weak-side).

2.) What kinds of ships give you different options in these kinds of scenarios?

3.) How does low relative PS (your deployment is obvious to your opponent) compared to high relative PS (your deployment is unknown to your opponent) affect how the opponent can counter this strategy?

4.) How do you retain the ability to focus fire while denying it to your opponent?